The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor that began in 1978. In 1982 the inventor, Aili Kivistik a citizen of Estonia, organized a group of unnamed, unpatented Clematis jackmanii varieties for an open pollination breeding project. Seeds originating from this open pollination were planted out, and the new variety was selected in 1985. Specific parents of the new variety are unknown, as the seed was bulk collected, without noting the variety collected from. All work was conducted at a non-commercial nursery in Roogoja, Estonia.
In 1989 the inventor first propagated ‘UNAI 001’ by vegetative cuttings at the same non-commercial nursery in Roogoja, Estonia. Subsequent generations have shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.